Embellish Your Fringe with Beads

Visually, the latest video course with Janney Simpson, Experiments in Deflected Doubleweave, is stunning. It has all the cool elements: big barn studio space with gorgeous wooden floors, all sorts of looms in various stages of weaving, lots of windows letting in natural light. It’s like a weaver’s dream come true ... well, this weaver’s dream at least!

Janney Simpson with some of her many DDW experiments.

In the course, Janney demonstrates lots of different techniques, some specific to deflected doubleweave (DDW) and others that work with DDW as well as with other structures, such as weaving a V-shaped shawl using warp for weft. One of the many techniques she shows is her method of adding beads to fringe. There are probably other ways, but I found Janney’s simple and straightforward. She uses small beads, so although they sparkle and add a touch of bling, they don’t overwhelm her already beautiful DDW shawl.

Check out this short video about adding beads to fringe.

Here is a list of equipment you’ll need to do it yourself:

• Fringe twister or hair twister with clockwise and counterclockwise turning ability
• Dental floss threaders
• Scissors
• Something heavy to hold your weaving (Janney uses an antique iron but a couple of books will also work)
• Self-healing quilter’s mat, straight edge, and rotary cutting tool

I haven’t added beads to fringe for a while now. Once, I added beads that were too big for my scarf, and they weighed it down; that sort of put me off the idea. Now, I’m tempted again to use small beads to add just a little bling. I’m also considering trying to weave a V-shaped shawl using the method Janney demonstrates in the course.

Weave well,

Susan